Letter to Friedrich Engels, March 1, 1851

Author(s) Karl Marx
Written 1 March 1851


First published slightly abridged in Der Briefwechsel zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Bd. 1, Stuttgart, 1913 and in full in MEGA, Abt. III, Bd. 1, 1929
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 38, pp. 312-313


[London,] Saturday, 1 March 1851

Dear Engels,

You must have the most singular post-horses, seeing that all my letters reach you too late.

As you will very well know, if you have given due attention to the letters you have received, everything you advise has already happened, with the exception of the box on the ears for Landolphe, which I do not consider a proper remedy. If anybody is to be done an injury, it must be the little HIPHIPHIPHURRAH Scotsman, George Julian Harney, and no other, and then it is Harney who will have to practise shooting.

With both your letters to Harney in front of me,[1] I sent the first, because in my opinion it was better written and more apt than the second, amended, edition.

Both Harney and Landolphe have been sufficiently threatened with legal proceedings. Your fear that Landolphe would testify against Schramm unfounded. Rather, he will swear that he, as a committee member, was approached by Schramm before the scandal and asked to keep order among the gang.

Since, then, the 'threat' of legal proceedings is of no avail, que faire[2] except quietly swallow blows, 'spy', and Schapper-Willich triumph!

All your fears concerning scandal justified. But we, too, will have a SHARP advocate on our side. A little disrepute, whether more or less, can be of no moment to Schramm. But if he lets the matter drop, now that the Church Street[3] Frenchmen have become embroiled in it, he will be perdu[4] unless he either obtains public satisfaction from the Chartists or takes the matter to court. One thing or the other.

Jones, as I told you in my letter, wasn't at Monday's meeting. I had arranged a meeting with him at my house, but as early as Tuesday rushed round to see him, didn't find him in, left a note asking him to come without fail on Wednesday. Didn't come. Went there on Thursday. Was turned away. Left a note of invitation. Didn't come. Thursday evening I wrote him a lengthy letter[5] calmly, simply and clearly setting forth the whole dirty business from the beginning, placing, for his benefit, the repulsive consequences in their perspective, demanding public satisfaction, and finally requesting him to call on me and discuss matters. Didn't come, although he was in town, nor yet any written reply from him. So Jones has clearly been worked upon by that little Scottish intriguer, who is afraid of leaving him alone with me. You see, then, no prospect of public satisfaction from the Chartists.

There only remains legal proceedings. Adviendra que pourra.[6] The only drawback being that Pieper will lose his job as a result and that we may well have plus ou moins[7] the whole of the Chartist mob at our heels.

The introduction of an Aliens Bill[8] would be the most fortunate event so far as we are concerned. Where would those jackasses be without a public demonstration every day?[9]

There's only one other way of settling the matter without creating an almighty scandal, and that is for you to come down, immediately and without delay. You could stay with me, as I have now rented two additional rooms. There is, I definitely assure you, no other way. Letters confuse, delay and achieve nothing.

Your

K. M.

  1. ↑ See this volume, p. 306.
  2. ↑ what can be done
  3. ↑ Church Street—a street in London where the Fraternal Society of French Socialist Democrats had its seat. The Society included different elements of the French emigration in London, Ledru-Rollin and Louis Blanc were among its members. The Society was founded in the autumn of 1850 for the purpose of providing material assistance to French political emigrants (see also this volume, p. 292). 24 February was the anniversary of the February 1848 revolution in France.
  4. ↑ lost
  5. ↑ Marx's invitation to Ernest Jones of 27 February 1851 and another note mentioned earlier have not been found.
  6. ↑ Come what may.
  7. ↑ more or less
  8. ↑ The Aliens Bill, enacted by the British Parliament in 1793, was renewed in 1802, 1803, 1816, 1818 and, finally, in 1848 (An Act to Authorise for One Year, and to the End of the Then Next Session of Parliament, the Removal of Aliens from the Realm). In 1850 public opinion obstructed the renewal of this Bill despite Conservative efforts.
  9. ↑ Early in March 1851 Engels went to London for a few days to improve relations with the Chartists which deteriorated after Conrad Schramm and Wilhelm Pieper had been man-handled at the 'banquet of the equals' (see Note 374). Simultaneously, Marx and Engels took steps to expose Louis Blanc, Willich, Schapper and other organisers of the banquet. By that time it had transpired that the latter had deliberately kept secret the text of the toast sent by Auguste Blanqui from the Belle-Isle prison, in which he exposed Louis Blanc, Ledru-Rollin and other members of the Provisional Government of the French Republic as traitors to the revolution. However, the text of the toast was published in La Patrie (No. 58, 27 February 1851) and other newspapers. Marx and Engels translated it into German and English. The German version with a short preface written by them was sent to Cologne and printed in leaflet form, giving Berne as the place of publication (see present edition, Vol. 10, pp. 537-39). During his stay in London, on 5 March, Engels apparently wrote a letter to the editor of The Times refuting a false declaration of Louis Blanc, published in that day's issue of the paper, that Blanqui's toast was never received by the organisers of the 'banquet of the equals'. Engels enclosed the English translation of Blanqui's toast for publication in The Times. But neither the letter nor the translation was published.